Chris' Updates

It has been a very busy few weeks since I last wrote, but I'll mention a few of the big events. First, I'm sad to report that my Grandpa Doug passed away yesterday. He fell ill a few weeks ago, and went to a hospital. A CAT scan showed a mass in his lungs that was likely cancerous, but he declined to have it biopsied. If it were cancer, the act of surgically getting a sample would likely have sped the cancer's growth. Instead, Grandpa decided to let nature take its course, and come what may. He passed away peacefully in the hospital, and is out of his pain now. He was a Vietnam veteran, and was never ashamed of who he was, never let people's opinions define his self-worth. He will be missed. In other news, I've left my job with Transportation Services to try and find more fertile ground. TS has always been good to me, but many things contributed to my decision to leave. I was getting tired of working odd hours, early mornings, late evenings, starting and ending in d...

Obviously, I've fallen behind my goal of weekly posts. All I can say is that I've been busy. School work is steaming ahead at full speed, and work has just been crazy. In the past weeks, I've taken and passed my differential equations midterm, and had numerous homework assignments in all of my classes. I just finished a project for differential equations, and wrote it within Google Docs . I've been using Docs for a while to take notes and write small spreadsheets, but recent feature additions allowed me to write a report worthy of printing and turning in. You can check it out here . Since this was for a math class, being able to insert an equation with LaTeX syntax and having it print nicely was invaluable. And I really love that I can access these documents from any computer, and don't have to carry it around on a USB drive or manually synchronize with an internet file system every time I make a change. I still hesitate to put everything in the clouds , but it wor...

Life has been going well, but I find myself very busy once again. Classes are starting to settle in to their norm. Homework is a continuous thing, but I'm trying to be consistent about doing it whenever I have a few moments, and staying ahead of my deadlines. In my differential equations class, I've been doing my best to read over the book before lectures and mostly teaching myself, which has been a huge improvement over what I've done in past semesters, trying to learn for the first time during lecture. My humanities class is going quite well, and I'm enjoying the material. Our first block of discussion was over the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass , his first autobiography, and more generally about freedom of body and mind, and slavery's effect on society. Now we're moving on to discussions of the Greek philosophers. Currently we're focused on Socrates, and what a jerk he was. In addition to being remembered for his deep, critical thinking on ph...

Well, so far so good. The first week back at school has gone smoothly. My four classes are all reasonable, and one of them actually looks to be fun. Humanities for Engineers introduces engineering majors to something they might not get to otherwise experience; culture. We will examine many classics of literature and film, and are also required to attend "cultural events" such as live theater, jazz concerts, or (if justified and well-journalised) visiting a hookah bar. Also on the syllabus is a requirement to visit the Art Museum of Denver armed with oil pastels and sketch pad to duplicate a piece of contemporary visual art. The central theme of the course, acccording to the professor, is to explore what it means to be human and the human experience. It's something that can many times escape the mind of the engineer, who is posessed of creating new machines or chemicals or highways. Beyond classes, I've been doing lots of bus driving, and looking for work elsewhere. I...

The Strong Bonds marriage enrichment retreat that the Army arranged for Ashley and I was a big success. We spent three full days away from home, and about two days in Columbus, Ohio. We were flown on Southwest Airlines, and I must say, I was really not a fan of their open seating policy. We stopped in Chicago for a layover, and Ashley and I both noticed the difference in the general atmosphere between that city and Denver. People in Chicago are just downright rude! I guess I shouldn't expect anything less; it has a reputation as a hard town. The hotel in Columbus was very nice, considering that this was an Army event. The Columbus Airport Marriott treated the conference guests very well. The hotel's catered food and restaurant were good, the conference room was stocked with water and writing materials, and the rooms were clean and relaxing. As for the retreat, it was presented as a seminar, with short classes interspersed with small group and couples discussions. We learned som...

I've spent most of the week doing extra bus runs, because they need the help and I need the money. My attendance in classes has suffered, but as I mentioned, most of the heavy lifting is already done. I haven't been going in to the Rational Data office either. Just too busy. Meanwhile, people have been coming in to town. Jackie flew in yesterday, and my mom and her friend arrived last night. Dad and Jeannie are coming in tonight, and Zach and his girlfriend will not be in until tomorrow. Tonight was spent mostly preparing the rental property for the reception, and tomorrow looks to be spent the same way. After that, off to the rehearsal, and the next day... my single life is over. I think I can handle that.

Monday night, I got a call from my dad. He told me that my great grandma Gene was on her deathbed, and would probably pass on within the week. While I was sad to hear the news, I was happy that she would be out of pain. Her health has been deteriorating for many years, and I know she was in almost constant pain. Later that night, Dad called back to say that she had indeed passed on. The rest of the night was very sombre. The rest of the week, I've felt ups and downs. I had a nice trip taking a conference of scientists to the Twenty Ninth Street Mall's Wonder of Science outdoor exhibits. I've seen the exhibits before, and it was fun to learn the scientists' perspectives on designing the exhibits and all of the factors involved. Thursday, Ashley and I met with the deacon to iron out the final paperwork. We're all done with classes and counseling, and the license is now at the church, ready to be signed on the big day. Tonight was grandma Gene's visitation, but I w...

The week was fairly uneventful. I had a pre-surgery consult to have my wisdom teeth taken out. Scary prospect, but I'd much rather have it done under sedative than have an army dentist with local anesthetic and a line of people waiting behind me. Friday night I had a run taking some students down to the Grizzly Rose. Only problem was, I dorked up the start time. I arrived at 9:30 for my pre-trip, only to realize that I was supposed to start at 7:30 and finish at 9:30. Turns out, my supervisor had called me, and I had been in the computer science labs, where I get almost no cell phone reception. It was less-than-catastrophic, because two other buses had squeezed on a few extra passengers each and covered it. I pre-tripped, drove down to the Rose, and sulked in the parked bus until it was time to leave. The third return trip bus didn't arrive either, so the two buses were again just a bit overpacked. Terrible run.

It's been a busy week for Ashley and I. We managed to finish making our wedding registry at Target. That was our last excuse, so now we have to finish the invitations and get them out the door. Transportation needed a lot of help this week, so I took some time off at Rational Data and grabbed some charter runs. Thursday morning, I took a few people down to a sustainability conference in south Denver. They were very interesting people with some great ideas. One of the most interesting proposals I heard was a system that uses algae to scrub city air. A business would be able to put a shed on a building room, the algae would clean the air, and the business would reap profit from the multiplying algae. Much more complicated, but that's the gist. I think it will be really interesting to see how sustainable energy takes form in the next few decades. Another charter was picking up high school students from Aurora for the Black Student Alliance. I think it's some sort of diversity ...

The past week I've been a working fool. Four of the last 5 nights, I've taken bus runs ending after midnight. At least I'm making decent money. Saturday, Ashley and I attended a Catholic pre-marriage seminar that explained much of the theology behind marriage. I was surprised to find that they were fairly vocal on sex. We were informed of the usual notion that it's a defining marital act and shouldn't be done outside of marriage. However, in the past 40 years, and especially during the reign of Pope John Paul II, the role of marital sex has been recast as not just necessary, but also holy. Every time a married couple has sex, they are expressing a love for each other that is a mirror image of Christ's love for the church. They are also re-stating their wedding vows, through a certain chain of logic. It was a very interesting workshop. The next couple of days look pretty open, so maybe I'll get some down time. I hope.

Alright, so this morning, I woke up at about 6. I carpooled with Holly to Rational Data and worked for free. After that, I went to Fitzsimons and signed my request to transfer Army reserve units. From there, I dropped Holly back at home, and raced to Operating Systems recitation and Linear Algebra lecture. I then careened across Boulder to meet a guy and bought the Xbox he advertised on craigslist. (Yes, the original Xbox. I'm a little behind the times. It was cheap.) And directly after that transaction, I raced to the Transportation office for a charter run. By the time I walked into the office, I was pretty burnt out. I must've looked it too, because when I mentioned it to the schedule lady, she took pity on me and arranged a trade. All I could do was thank God that she was so kind. I was just about at the point of nervous breakdown, and she helped me out. I was able to eat a peaceful meal, attend my technical writing class, and now I'm taking a moment at home to relax. G...

Well, what to say? In light of the deployment opportunity, Ashley and I have talked about moving the wedding to this spring. We had intended to wait for a year or two, possibly October of 2009. However, I think we both have the intention of getting married before I deploy. So, just to get the ball rolling, we went to the church on Saturday to meet with the deacon. He laid out the process a bit, telling us about the paperwork that had to be filled out, the pre-marriage classes and counseling we'd have to go through, and the steps we could potentially skip because of the short time frame. He is going to ask for a dispensation from the archbishop in order to waive the normal 6 to 8 month waiting period, and he sounded pretty confident that it would come through. Ashley and I also took a personality compatibility test, and we'll get the results sometime this week. School started Monday. I've got 4 classes this semester, and they all seem like reasonable classes at the outset. L...

I'm done, it's over, fin . My exams all went pretty well. Arabic was a little bit iffy, but I was impressed that I did know a few things. I hope my grades are good enough for Engineering, but it's out of my hands now. It's a strange feeling. I'm relieved that I've done my part and I don't have to work anymore, but still nerve-wracking. It shouldn't take more than a week to get my grades back, but I have no idea how long the dean's office will take in its decision. I've decided that if Engineering turns me down, I'll still stay at CU for another semester, to try for appeals, and so I don't have to switch schools in a matter of days, potentially. That could be a nightmare. Besides school, driving is also winding down, at least for me. I haven't volunteered my services over the break, although I might want to do a little work. At this point, I want a break from the bus. The internship is still going well. At this point, it's pretty s...

Well, last weekend was a bit crazy. Friday morning, Kristen was induced into labor with her baby. Ashley decided it was her job to get Kristen through, so she was at the hospital most of Friday and into Saturday. All that time, I was hastily cleaning the house. Saturday morning, my mother arrived, and I spent most of the day with her. In the afternoon, I received the call that Devin had given his mother some trouble coming out, but after an emergency C-section, mother and baby were both wonderful! Sunday I spent more time with Mom, and she came with me on my bus run to Boulder Reservoir. It was a great time, and she found several opportunities to use her new camera. Sunday evening, I went and saw Devin for the first time. Babies are just so tiny when they're first born! This week I've been a working fool, but at least this time I'm choosing my hours. I need to get some money together for the holidays. I had a physics midterm on Tuesday night that went very well. This weeken...

Well, I think I've taken my wardriving to the next level. Currently, I'm in the middle of a bus run to DU , and I'm parked in the bus, nowhere close to anything on campus. (Actually right about here .) However, as I type, I'm connected to the infamous "linksys" wireless access point. Someone in one of the nearby houses did the typical home user thing, and just plugged in their router without setting up any security settings. So now, I'm not stuck trying to walk around south Denver trying to entertain myself. Thank you, linksys. How many people can say they've gone wardriving in a 20-ton bus? In other news, the online music store that I've been using, URGE, has officially shut down, so now I'm stuck finding a new store. It's like PC Club all over again. So for the past couple of days, I've been trying out Rhapsody. My MP3 player, a Sansa e260, is designed to integrate with Rhapsody, and so far I'm impressed. Instead of the way I...

Wednesday was the Calculus midterm, and I didn't do all that well, but I'm not alone. Temper my 49% with the fact that the average was 51%, standard deviation 16%. I feel like school is going pretty well, but I'm staying incredibly busy with special events. Like Friday night's Buff Bus driver's party. Dine, the girl I trained with, worked very hard and was actually able to reserve one of the 22-passenger mini buses for a "team-building event." She invited all the drivers to be picked up at their residences, to be taken to a park off of Broadway and Table Mesa for a barbecue. We had a great time, and I got to meet a couple of drivers formally instead of just passing them on the time sheets. I spent a good amount of time talking to Stuart, an Army ROTC cadet and generally good guy, and we arranged to switch our schedules a bit to make both our lives a bit easier. Great time. Saturday was another football game, this one against #3 Oklahoma. I had the distinct...

The week was normal for the status quo. I'm still working a bunch, and not incredibly happy, but at least I'm keeping up with schoolwork. Saturday, I first had a trip up to CU's Mountain Research Station, a very beautiful, scenic drive. Saturday evening was the football game against Florida State, and I was driving WillVille. Not only was it the first game of the year at Folsom Field, but it was also Florida State's first ever trip to CU, so the student body was hyped up and there were a lot of Floridians in attendance. For some reason, Events Services had not redirected our normal route, so we were expected to keep going through the middle of campus along Colorado Ave. As game time approached, it seemed obvious that it wasn't going to work for long. Colorado Ave. was a sea of people, with vendors and radio stations lined up on the sidewalks and people meandering everywhere. I found that I could inch through the crowd safely, but my horn was only semi-functional. Ju...

Well, Saturday I looked forward to my last bus run for the week, the CU vs CSU football game. It's traditionally one of the rowdiest games of the year, seeing as CSU is our rival school. Well, sure enough, even at 8:30 in the morning, we had several hundred people lined up on the sidewalk, all vying for a seat on the Buff Bus. We packed all of our buses as full as we could allow, then set off for Mile High Stadium. The entire way, the crowd would start up singing the school song, and a variation on a CSU chant, "It sucks, to be, a CSU Ram!" Once we hit the traffic, the crowd would often see a car loaded with black and gold, and cheer. Or they might see an SUV loaded with green and yellow, and start jeering. We made it to the stadium in one piece, but after much more traffic on the side streets, we were turned away from the usual bus parking lot. This upset me quite a bit, as I was forced to drive around (at a crawl) and try and find a place to let off the now-rioting mob ...

Transportation plans on working me like a dog this week. We're down several staff drivers and lost many student drivers to graduation, and I feel like I've been picking up more than my share of slack. From Tuesday to Saturday alone, I'm working 33 hours. I'll admit, that's not even quite full time, but I'm a freaking full time student! I've sworn off full time job and full time school ever since EchoStar. Three nights this week, I'll have gotten less than 5 hours of sleep. If this bullshit doesn't clear up right quick, I'll have an earful for my boss.

Well, yesterday was the first day of classes at CU. So far so good. I think this semester will be good, as long as I don't get bogged down with work. So far, I've got about 20 hours this week, and thats really more than I want to handle. I've got about 9 hours bus driving on a permanent basis, but a bunch of people are still figuring out their schedules, so I've pick up some of the slack. Oh yeah, and I'm working the CU vs CSU football game this Saturday. Wish me luck. I'm thinking about taking a flak vest or my Kevlar helmet, because it's going to be absolutely nuts. As long as work settles down to about 12 hours a week, I should have plenty of time to get with study groups and office hours and the Arabic Speaking Club, and use so many more resources that I never thought I needed. This semester, it's time to figure out how to be a good student again.